Election may bring interesting month-and-a-half
Published Monday September 8th, 2008
If things have gone the way everyone was saying they would Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor-General to dissolve Canada's 39th Parliament Sunday morning and we're in for another federal election Oct. 14.
Harper was expected to sing the same song to the Governor-General that he's been singing to anyone and everyone who'd listen for the last few months — that he's lost the confidence of Parliament.
Harper and his Tories were elected Jan. 23, 2006 and are going into this election after running the third-longest minority parliament in Canadian history — and a very controversial one. His government has had more than it's fair share of scandals, from allegations he attempted to bribe an independent MP dying of cancer with a million-dollar life insurance policy if he'd vote against the federal budget and topple then-Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal government in 2005, to election fundraising irregularities. Harper's government has also faced criticsim for being in the pocket of big business and U.S. president George Bush, as well as slashing funding to Canadian arts and culture programs.
"They (the Conservatives) don't believe in culture, but the worst part of it is that they want to change the kind of society you want to live in," Liberal Heritage Critic MP Denis Coderre told reporters recently about those cuts.
Liberal Opposition leader Stephane Dion is ready to defeat the Conservatives, he said Thursday.
"We are a strong team and we are ready to work hard for Canadians at a time when Prime Minister Stephen Harper is determined to break his word and force an early election," Dion said. "We Liberals are prepared to defeat the Conservatives because we know that Canadians are tired of this government and want change."
NDP Leader Jack Layton focused on the economy at a rally in Toronto on Thursday. Layton said average Canadians are being "nickel and dimed" by government and businesses.
"There is a widening gap between the rich, those who are doing very well and those who are really struggling," Layton said.
And Elizabeth May, the Leader of the Green Party, now has a sitting MP in her camp and has a lawyer fighting for her right to appear in the nationally televised debates for the first time.
Well, Canada, here we go again.
It'll sure as heck be an interesting month-and-a-half. Let's just hope that someone gets a majority this time before all these elections bankrupt the country.
Feedback? Contact Dan Benoit at streetwiseguy@hotmail.com.
Former Miramichi Leader reporter Dan Benoit is a Miramichier born and bred, currently working up north.
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"Let's just hope that someone gets a majority this time before all these elections bankrupt the country."
...in contrast to Dan's notation of...
"Harper and his Tories were elected Jan. 23, 2006 and are going into this election after running the third-longest minority parliament in Canadian history."
Unless Dan is referring to the by-elections that were called just months ago, and were canceled due to a suddenly "dysfunctional" parliament. What changed over the summer so much that the PM felt it necessary to waste the money on these by-elections in progress, break his own law, and call an election?